Blue Eyes
by xxxPiratePrincessxxx
Summary: Three weeks after the events of Thor, Jane Foster sits in a cafe mooning over a certain thunder god. Needless to say, when the redhead with the briefcase pays her cheque, it's the most interesting thing that's happened to her in three weeks. One-shot.


Jane sipped at the tepid, rapidly cooling coffee gripped between her knuckles and tried – and failed – not to think about Thor. The sunlight filtering gently through the windows was the colour of his hair, the gleam of the polished cafe tabletop the exact shade of blue his eyes went when he's was thinking hard; darker, and webbed with fine turquoise threads.

She shook herself slightly, a tic that became a habit to rid herself of mooning over the four-week gone god of thunder. Splashes of the drink leapt over the rim and splotched in blossoming rosettes over her stained white cuff, which had already been dunked in Ribena when Darcy decided to stick the straw in whilst squeezing the carton at the same time. _Typical,_ she thought glumly, eyeing the lilac-splattered sleeve. Snags of napkin had already been rubbed off onto the fabric in an attempt to scrub the fruit juice off, and it was with mingled oaths and curses that a sheepish Darcy was sent off with when Erik dropped Jane off to the little corner cafe that she'd taken to visiting, alone, after..._he_ went.

Sighing, she pushed back her long brown hair, reassuringly silken after a pre-cafe wash, and began to meticulously tear her croissant to flaky shreds. The bell over the door jingled merrily, and Jane glanced up to see a woman dressed in a formal, businessy sort of matching jacket and skirt stride confidently over to the counter. The curiosity living in a small-town where everybody knew each other washed over her, and she bit her lower lip idly as she scanned this neatly-attired newcomer.

She was in her late twenties, or at most her early thirties, healthy and very slim – smart black heels, a feathery, gingery-gold fringe falling over rather pretty aquamarine eyes (_the creases in his smile, the brightness it gave to his sky-eyed gaze) _that wereedged carefully in demure gray liner, and delicate features that looked unusual beside the stern outfit and the reserved make-up. Jane slid her eyes quickly back down to her polystyrene cup as the woman glided past her and seated herself in the booth opposite, instantly whipping open a laptop and clattering out a message with her polished, manicured fingertips.

Guiltily, Jane looked askance at her scientist fingers – long and slender, but the nails were bitten to lumpy crescents and there was still engine oil underneath from where she had helped kick start Erik's ancient, temperamental car. The grease from the shredded pastry still slicked the skin.

The mobile in her jacket pocket rang suddenly, with the annoying jangly rendition of 'The Simpsons' theme tune Darcy had forced her to plug in for her. Looking up, she saw the professional redhead had glanced up at the sound. Grinning in embarrassment, Jane felt her cheeks flush scarlet as she mashed the answer button with her thumb and screwed the phone close to her ear.

"You _idiot,_ Darcy!" she hissed under her breath, still smiling for the sake of the stranger's inquisitive gaze.

"What'd I do?" Darcy's voice came out tinnily from the speaker, the indignance clear in her tone. Still annoyed, Jane pressed Darcy sharply for why she called. "Erik managed to tap into an old S.H.I.E.L.D database and found some statistics that could configure with generating another Einstein-Rosen bridge." Darcy answered, huffily.

"_Another Einstein-Rosen bridge?" _Jane replied excitedly, and in an instant her annoyance disappeared. Something warm and sweet popped deep in her chest, sending out a flooding sensation that fizzed in her nerves like popping candy. A huge, goofy smile tugged at her lips, and her caramel-coloured eyes shone with renewed hope.

"OK. I'll be right there."

The phone snapped shut, and Jane's fingers curled tightly around it, digging grooves into her palms. She was buzzing, literally, with one handsome, stubble-jawed face reappearing again and again in her mind. Jane's exclamation had attracted attention – Izzy's gossipy older sister Lizzie, who joint-ran the place, sailed over in a whirl of pastel dress and 60s barnet, an expression of motherly concern on her florid face.

"Jane, sweetie!" she cried, elongating every vowel. "Is everything OK?"

"Everything's fine, Lizzie." Jane said breathlessly, unable to stop grinning. "I just had some really good news, that's all."

"Oh," Lizzie said, looking slightly disappointed. "Well, seeing as I'm here, you might as well pay."

Nodding, Jane seized the coffee, downed it with an unladylike quaff, and fished in her bag for her leather purse. Her hand groped uselessly at keys, paperclips, old sweets, junk rolling around in a very purse-less manner. Jane sifted through it. Not even a cent.

"Oh," she said, her face falling. "Oh God. Um, Lizzie, I know this is like the thirteenth time, but I think Darcy's pinched my purse again, and..."

"It's OK," a voice sounded suddenly, and both women looked up to see the business-woman with the laptop case, calmly holding out the money. "I'll pay."

Surprised, Jane tried to dissuade her. "There's really no need, I'll just go over to the bank across the street and take out some –"

"I insist," the woman said, gently, but with a firm authority that came with an air of well-practised ease. Lizzie hesitantly took the outstretched dollars (crisp and new, without a single wrinkle) and retreated behind the counter, where she watched them both with open curiosity.

The woman slipped onto the vinyl seat opposite Jane and put the case beside her.

"You probably don't know who I am," she said, smiling apologetically. "But my name is Pepper Potts. I work for Tony Stark – (Jane's eyes widened at the mention of the technological genius cum superhero) – as his secretary, actually. Sorry_. Ex_-secretary. I'm the CEO now, of Stark Industries."

Jane nodded, nonplussed.

"And, you know me, um...how?"

Pepper nodded again, motioning she was about to explain.

"My employer is probably best known as the 'superhero' Iron Man – doubtless you've heard of him. I manage all of his business, and recently, we've been working with an organisation I'm sure you're acquainted with."

"S.H.I.E.L.D." Jane said, comprehension dawning on her. Pepper inclined her head gracefully, the brown freckles on her golden-skinned cheeks glowing in the fractured light.

"And – about three weeks ago – S.H.I.E.L.D told Tony of the events that followed a 'meteorite' falling to Earth." Pepper outlined the word with two crooked fingers, and Jane felt something odd twist inside her as she realized she was talking about Thor. "They also told him about a young woman that the 'meteorite' had close contact to. Jane Foster."

Jane held up a hand, halting the other woman. "OK. Right. You know about Thor, and I presume you know about Loki, and all the rest of it. If it's about them, if something's happened, please – cut to the chase. I'm sick of S.H.I.E.L.D agents treating me as some sort of second-grade child who doesn't comprehend the greater scheme of things. I _know. _I _understand._ I'm the one who created the software in the first place to track the 'meteorite' activity!" Jane ranted angrily, turning Pepper's actions on her as she too framed the word with her fingers.

Pepper seemed utterly calm, almost sympathetic, as she held up her hands in a soothing motion.

"I'm sorry if it seemed like I was undermining your worth. I'm no S.H.I.E.L.D agent either. Tony – who, by the way, I have to be away from nearly all the time because of S.H.I.E.L.D – is the one who told me all about this. I took it upon myself to come out here and find you out."

"Why?" Jane asked. Her voice was less confrontational, though. The hint of the relationship between the woman and Stark had softened her view of Pepper, and also the underlying resentment the redhead also held for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Pepper's reply was cut short by Izzy zipping over with a mug of green tea, and there was a brief pause as Pepper paid her and returned to the conversation, doing her best to ignore the none-too-subtle curious questions Izzy asked her, in the guise of prattling about whether she wanted a red or an orange mug. Pepper's thin lips left soft smudges of pale-pink lipstick on the rim as she sipped, then continued her reply.

"Why? Because..." she sighed, taking a deep breath. "Because I want to help you. I know what it's like not to know what some mysterious company is doing with someone you care for, or being left in the dark as to where they are, or what they're doing when they disappear for two weeks on some sort of 'recruiting' mission." Anger slipped into her voice as she spoke, and each passionate word brought her closer to Jane.

"I heard you on the phone," Pepper went on, looking slightly guilty. "About the Einstein-Rosen bridge. That's how I knew it was you."

Jane silently scolded herself as she realised she her careful whisper to Darcy must've been broken when she heard about Erik's discovery. She gave Pepper a grudging smile to show she didn't mind, and her companion looked gratified as she leant backward and unzipped her laptop case.

Reaching in, Pepper pulled out her sleek black laptop once more and her fingers flashed over the keys, with Jane looking on with interest. Seeming to find what she was looking for, Pepper turned the laptop round to show Jane columns of data filling the screen, with a colourful picture of the Hubble Telescope picture beside it. A small, revolving icon of the S.H.I.E.L.D logo was in the right-hand corner.

Jane's eyes widened as they focused on what they were seeing, her breath catching almost painfully in her throat. It took her a few seconds to realise Pepper was talking to her.

" –the newest data on the 'meteorite' case, I know you probably could only access the old files and because Tony gets all the new info straight onto his computer, I thought it might help...Oh God, is something wrong?" Pepper said worriedly, noticing Jane's frozen expression. Reaching for the laptop, Jane touched the screen reverently with one extended finger, and a wonderstruck smile illuminated her entire face.

"Miss Potts...Pepper...you have no idea what you've given me..."

Jane's voice was barely audible, a whispered ramble that was constricted with repressed joy. Her brain pulsed as it constructed diagrams and statistics as each paragraph was read, and her heart pounded hard against her chest as she thought _if this is all correct, if what I've figured out from it is true, I could see him again. __**I can see him again. **_

Pepper seemed to understand that Jane was wordless with happiness, and felt relieved that she'd helped. She hesitantly asked again if she was alright, and was pleasantly surprised as Jane leapt around the table and pulled Pepper to her feet, hugging her tight.

A while later, after the two women departed ways, Pepper still grinned at the memory of Jane's delighted face as she drove away in Erik Selvig's car, the reactions of her companions as she brandished the USB stick containing the S.H.I.E.L.D documents from Pepper's laptop.

A week after their meeting, Jane hit a man she had just conjured from the sky with her car. For the third time.

Two weeks after their meeting, Pepper opened her apartment door to see a group of armed men (and woman) in Viking warrior attire standing outside, with Jane and Thor at the forefront, all grinning expectantly at her.

There was a lot of explaining to do when Tony came to Pepper's apartment to find Thor, The Warriors Three and Lady Sif rampaging around his girlfriend's home as said girlfriend chatted calmly to a pretty brunette on the sofa, ducking occasionally as a spear was hurled over their heads.

And so began a beautiful friendship.

...and also a Pepper-why-the-hell-are-Vikings-swinging-on-your-chandelier...friendship.


End file.
